At least 50 arrested in crackdowns across Iraq

Jul 2, 2008, 19:14 GMT

Baghdad - At least 50 were arrested Wednesday as Iraqi forces continue their crackdown campaigns launched by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to maintain security in violent areas.

US and Iraqi forces raided the house of Amara's governor and arrested 30 of his guards, governmental sources in the province said Wednesday.

A source told Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency that the governor was not arrested, as he was not home.

Meanwhile, Spokesman of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, Abdel Kareem Khalaf told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that Iraqi forces arrested the head of the Amara's provincial council.

Security forces arrested other three members of the provincial council.

Earlier in June, Iraqi troops started a security offensive against militias in Amara city, 390 km south of Baghdad.

Khalaf said that forces still continue to hunt down wanted suspects adding that 250 had gave up themselves to Iraqi troops.

Also in the south, police forces arrested 15 wanted people during raid-and-search operations in different parts of Basra, a security source said.

The source told VOI that forces had also defused a roadside bomb south of Basra.

Since April, the Iraqi government has conducted search operations in Basra, 550 km south of the Iraqi capital, in a bid to disarm the oil-rich city that was the battleground of fierce clashes between security forces and militants loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

In the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi army forces arrested a gunman when he was attempting to plant a roadside bomb, said a source from Nineveh police.

'The gunman was wounded in his right leg, before the forces arrested him,' the source added.

Also in Mosul, one policeman was killed and three were wounded during clashes between a police patrol and unknown gunmen east of Mosul.

Mosul, capital city of Nineveh province, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.